Foreknowledge and Predestination
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Romans 8:28-30
‘For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified’ (8:29,30). Paul elaborates here what he meant in 8:28 by God’s ‘purpose,’ according to which He called us and is working everything together for our good. He traces God’s good and saving purpose through five stages from its beginning in His mind to its consummation in the coming glory. He names these stages foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification and glorification.
We begin with the first two: foreknowledge and predestination
(1) Christians are called ‘those God foreknew.’ Since the common meaning of ‘to foreknow’ is to know something beforehand, a common conclusion is that God foresees who will believe and that this foreknowledge is the basis of His predestination. But Paul doesn’t say God foreknows everyone and everything. He limits his comment to one group. The emphasis in the Hebrew verb ‘to know’ is on the personal relationship of care and affection that are always part of this kind of knowing. When God ‘knows’ people, He watches over them (Psalm 1:6; 144:3). Israel was the only people in the Old Testament that God ‘knew,’ that He loved, chose and formed a covenant with (Amos 3:2). Knowledge in this sense is almost synonymous with love (Deuteronomy 7:7f)
(2) ‘those God foreknew [fore-loved] he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers’ (8:29). The verb ‘predestined’ means ‘decided upon beforehand.’ A decision is involved in becoming a Christian but it is God’s decision before it is our decision. This is not to deny that we ‘decided for Christ’ but to recognise that God did something first (Ephesians 1:5,9,11; 3:11). The New Testament describes human beings as by nature blind, deaf and dead. Conversion is impossible unless God gives them sight, hearing and life.
Properly understanding predestination leaves us humble and not arrogant, assured and not apprehensive, responsible and not apathetic, holy and not complacent and missionary minded and not feeling privileged.
The two practical purposes of God’s predestination are:
(1) that we should be ‘conformed to the likeness of his Son’ (8:29). God’s eternal purpose for His people is that we should be like Jesus. The transformation process begins here and now in our character and conduct through the work of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18) but will be brought to completion only when Christ returns (1 John 3:2f) and our bodies become like the body of His glory (2 Thessalonians 2:13f)
(2) as a result of our conformity to the image of Christ ‘that he might be the firstborn among many brothers’ (8:29) enjoying both the community of the family and the pre-eminence of the firstborn (Colossians 1:18).